Hanyuu

Thank you for saving my time.

Nah, I gave my reasons in the same reply. Even though I said I would not engage, I think this one deserves a reply.

A good romance and strong chemistry between the ML and FL do not weaken the ML’s character, plot, or turn him into a doormat.

Here is the copy-paste of my reasons.

I will not engage with fangirls, but I think some explanation is overdue on my part. So here goes nothing.

Tingyun proposed to Zhao Ling herself and asked him to marry her. He ignored thinking, she was doing it out of convenience, not love. Then he asked her those three questions about what kind of couple she wanted them to be. She gave him exactly the answers he wanted, basically confessed her love outright, and they even kissed after the maze game event. But for some strange reason, the marriage was delayed until they reached the capital. Fine. Then they finally reached the capital five years later, and Zhao Ling decided, "No, I'll go down by myself and won't even meet her." Their reunion after five years was unbelievably disappointing and anticlimactic. I genuinely couldn't believe this was what the writers came up with.

Then Tingyun gets mocked for being 24, unmarried, and supposedly unwanted. She practically confesses again by deciding to leave the capital, while Zhao Ling remains completely oblivious at first, as if that is supposed to be funny. Then suddenly he goes to her father, something we are seeing for basically the first time in 21 or 22 episodes, and sits outside in the rain begging for approval. Are you kidding me? The King already approved your marriage, asking for the date. Tingyun changed her family name and has virtually no ties left to that family except her mother. What exactly is this rain performance supposed to prove?

Anyway, that ends, and we are back to salt reforms. Her sister-in-law's brother was suggested as a good guy and a useful aide to Zhao Ling, while Yu Jingxiu, his mortal enemy, was also in line for appointment. Tingyun is helping him politically, even bringing useful people to his side, yet Zhao Ling still acts uncomfortable about it. Which is fine, but then comes the dialogue that completely killed the show for me. Tingyun tells him, essentially, that she does not want him standing alone in the royal court and wants someone beside him. And Zhao Ling coldly replies that if things ever go badly, he will not drag her down with him.

Are you fking kidding me?

She has already chosen you for life. She would die for you without hesitation, yet at every opportunity you push her aside under the excuse of "protecting" her, protecting her reputation, her chastity, or whatever nonsense. She keeps choosing him, confessing to him, supporting him, and fighting beside him, while he keeps treating her like someone who must be kept at a safe distance.

Did Tingyun get engaged to a man or a Buddha?

F this show.

I will not engage with fangirls , but I think some explanation is overdue on my part. So here goes nothing.

Tingyun proposed to Zhao Ling herself and asked him to marry her. He ignored thinking, she was doing it out of convenience, not love. Then he asked her those three questions about what kind of couple she wanted them to be. She gave him exactly the answers he wanted, basically confessed her love outright, and they even kissed after the maze game event. But for some strange reason, the marriage was delayed until they reached the capital. Fine. Then they finally reached the capital five years later, and Zhao Ling decided, "No, I'll go down by myself and won't even meet her." Their reunion after five years was unbelievably disappointing and anticlimactic. I genuinely couldn't believe this was what the writers came up with.

Then Tingyun gets mocked for being 24, unmarried, and supposedly unwanted. She practically confesses again by deciding to leave the capital, while Zhao Ling remains completely oblivious at first, as if that is supposed to be funny. Then suddenly he goes to her father, something we are seeing for basically the first time in 21 or 22 episodes, and sits outside in the rain begging for approval. Are you kidding me? The King already approved your marriage, asking for the date. Tingyun changed her family name and has virtually no ties left to that family except her mother. What exactly is this rain performance supposed to prove?

Anyway, that ends, and we are back to salt reforms. Her sister-in-law's brother was suggested as a good guy and a useful aide to Zhao Ling, while Yu Jingxiu, his mortal enemy, was also in line for appointment. Tingyun is helping him politically, even bringing useful people to his side, yet Zhao Ling still acts uncomfortable about it. Which is fine, but then comes the dialogue that completely killed the show for me. Tingyun tells him, essentially, that she does not want him standing alone in the royal court and wants someone beside him. And Zhao Ling coldly replies that if things ever go badly, he will not drag her down with him.

Are you fking kidding me?

She has already chosen you for life. She would die for you without hesitation, yet at every opportunity you push her aside under the excuse of "protecting" her, protecting her reputation, her chastity, or whatever nonsense. She keeps choosing him, confessing to him, supporting him, and fighting beside him, while he keeps treating her like someone who must be kept at a safe distance.

Did Tingyun get engaged to a man or a Buddha?

F this show.

Watched until Episode 23.5. This is the worst romance I have ever watched. My patience has completely run out with Zhao Ling's incompetence as a man and his complete lack of desire, despite the FL trying so hard. His character did a complete 180 after 5 years. Feels like an arrogant bstrd living in his own fantasy world. I feel sorry for Tingyun. Dropped.

If Jennie had been in even one Asian drama, even as a guest actress, I would agree. But unfortunately, the only dramas and movies listed on her page are just BLACKPINK documentaries.

And no, I really wouldn't want to see Ado news listed on MDL if there are a few documentaries about her, no matter how big she becomes. MDL made the wrong decision here, like **many others**. But that's fine. It's just one news story; people are probably overreacting.

The majority of K-Pop singers appear in TV shows listed on MDL and probably have a page on MDL because of those shows, but that doesn't mean they belong to drama-related content.

If the logic is that they are celebrities, so it's fine for their news to be posted here, then maybe MDL should start posting all K-Pop-related news as long as there is a link to their people profile. And since I personally love J-Pop, I would also love to see news about my favorite bands here.

I guess that's fair, right?

These Chinese Otakus need to touch some grass.

Just continue and end this suffering. ;) Be grateful that it didn’t take them so long to reunite. Some shows take 6 or 7 episodes just for a simple misunderstanding, and I loathe them.

The whole DIVORCE writing part was just bad writing, completely unnecessary and overkill. He didn’t even hand her the divorce papers, and she isn’t a divorcee either. So don’t take that seriously, because there are many other bad and unnecessary writing choices as well.

As for him leaving her and sending her to the mountains, that part was necessary and very predictable, because there was too much to uncover, and we already knew everyone was dead. The ML had to witness how difficult her life really was and become more appreciative of her. From his POV, she seemed stable, with a grandfather and all those teachers around her, and she only had hallucinations about one friend she had lost.

I'm really getting old because of all these shows. This was such a tear-jerker, but I predicted everything, and that's exactly how it happened. I keep taking the element of surprise and fun away from myself. :'(

South Korea's toxic, obnoxious, fake, and unforgiving celebrity culture is the real culprit in what happened to Kim Sae Ron. She was not the first person pushed to the edge by this deranged society, and sadly, not the last.

You probably haven't watched Joy of Life. It's better than any historical drama out there. Pursuit of Jade is good but just another revenge story, like 99% of them.

I said multiple arts, not martial arts. I know he doesn't have martial arts and combat abilities.

I have a positive attitude, especially towards Chinese dramas for some unknown reason, which is why I always hope for the best before getting completely annoyed and dropping the show. I don't even read summaries, reviews, comments, or spoilers to avoid any sort of bias and try to judge it by myself. I'm very optimistic about this one and hoping that he will not completely rely on his luck throughout the entire show. Being a reckless and flawed character is one thing; being lucky the entire time is different. No issue with the former. Hoping for the best.

He built underground tunnels at the age of 7 or 8. He went to that underground hidden tomb with his father around the same age and thought about it like a detective, figuring out who it belonged to. He solved difficult puzzles at the age of 8 and was almost exceptional at geomancy. He became a master at age 18 and was 100% certain about the rain when seasoned astronomers were uncertain. He has exceptional memory, reflexes, and planning skills. The only missing part is martial arts and combat abilities. But very well, he's not a genius - only smart. But the issue is that smart people don't play Russian Roulette with their plans, risking everything to either win or die when the revenge stakes are so high and you have all the time in the world. That was my actual point. The revenge trope is so common - the only thing that makes a show go from good to great is the execution of plans.

I'm on episode 9, and so far, he's been playing Russian Roulette with every plan. Not what I expected from a supposed genius trained in multiple arts. I hope the writing improves going forward.

Anyone 29+, reply here with a 'guilty as charged' comment. And yeah, I'm guilty as well. 😂

Clicked for rated 29+ 😂

It's really sad to hear your story. Something similar happened to me too. I was taken advantage of before the age of 10 by someone probably around 18 or 20. I remember crying, and he told me not to tell anyone or he’d hurt me, and he actually did, just enough to scare me. I was so afraid, and no one knows about it to this day. He disappeared not long after, and I felt ashamed and thought telling anyone wouldn't change anything.

This is the first time I'm ever sharing this, and it only came back to me because of your story. There was another incident when I was around 16 or 17, this time by a so-called friend who was about 8/9 years older than me. He later apologized, cried, and begged me to forgive him, and after a while I did. I never told anyone about that either.

I'm totally fine now. These bad memories barely exist in my daily life, but sometimes they resurface when I read stories like yours. Just wanted to say, you're not alone.

I'm not really hung up on Li Xun for beating FZJ, though I didn't really feel he got proper revenge. In my opinion, true revenge for his sister's death would have been permanently disabling FZJ - like breaking his leg beyond repair or putting him in a coma for a few years. The FZJ character isn't well written in my view. There's this whole contest where he was exposed for terrible software while receiving awards, then caught on camera bribing officials, yet somehow Li Xun is the one who gets in trouble for exposing him publicly, and even his apology wasn't enough. FZJ's character would have made much more sense if he were the son of a powerful politician or business tycoon whose backing would let him get away with anything.

But what really bothers me is GJH's ending where he suddenly gets sick for no reason and gives up everything. The show began with Li Xun being released and going straight to GJH, promising to take everything back. Then we got the backstory showing how genius Li Xun is - I was expecting a clever move, a brilliant strategy, something like beating GJH at his own game and reclaiming his company through his own intelligence. Without physically harming GJH, he could have gotten revenge for his sister, which would have made for a much more satisfying ending. From the moment he joined that unknown company and started developing the first game with Zhu Yun, I was looking forward to seeing where it would lead and how Li Xun and Zhu Yun would reclaim their company together. Instead, we learned he didn't actually have any genius plan. If GJH hadn't conveniently gotten sick for plot purposes and hadn't acted crazy by blatantly copying a game and resorting to blackmail, there's no way "genius" Li Xun could have won.